This is Franny Tuzzolino, my former Director! I love this picture because this was pretty much our year! Always laughing! And, yes, there were days when I wanted to strangle her (like above) but in the end she was always in my corner pushing me to be the very best me I could possibly be! Franny helped me get to the Top 5 my first year at MM and I am forever grateful for all of her help!
I think Franny is having way too much fun here going for my jugular!! Could it be she wanted to strangle me a time or two last year as well?!!!!
It may not look it, but I am in complete control here! I have one of her arms pinned here and I am going for her chin!
Um, yea, this is one of those un-lady positions I was talking about!! But it works! I am trying to break this woman's knee by sitting on it and snapping it! I'm just looking back to see that she is ok!!!
All of the talented volunteers who helped us learn some self defense moves! They were incredible, love what they do, and had fun teaching us!
Here I am welcoming the new Mayor of Farmington Hills, Barry Brickner, to this event!
I was very thrilled to be called at the last minute to be a special guest in Farmington Hills at the Costik Center (where I was crowned Miss Oakland County in July 2010) for a Women's Self Defense Seminar! Kelly Oles, my successor, was supposed to be their guest, but the flu prevented her from attending. I was very happy to fill in for her! What an amazing day filled with so much information and a day that took me out of my comfort zone!! My former Director, Francesca Tuzzolino, served as my chaperone and took the class. A word to the wise: Never mess with Franny! She was so tough and proved she could defend herself and her twin boys without any hesitation!!!
Saturday, February 28th was the date of this event. Before we actually started learning basic moves of self defense I was introduced and was provided the opportunity to speak about myself, the MAO, and my platform issue. I never tire of doing that!
Through a series of close-range drills, participants learned both situational awareness skills and self-defense skills. The class was taught by Jeff Duncan, master instructor and sixth degree black belt; his wife Connie, second degree black belt and chief instructor; and additional female black belt instructors from Farmington Martial Arts. This was the tenth time that the EPC had hosted a women's self-defense seminar and over one thousand women had participated in this popular event. Over the past six years, these seminars had raised thousands of dollars for HAVEN, an Oakland County crisis and counseling center for victims of domestic violence, and hundreds more for the YMCA Strong Kids Campaign.
This class took me out of my comfort zone because I had to yell and bring lots of attention to myself in a rather negative way while executing defense moves at the same time! As a vocalist, I don't usually yell (because it isn't good for a singers voice) and I also had to try and physically defend myself while yelling! It was difficult not to laugh or smile because it was actually fun while learning to survive an attack! But after 2.5 hours I learned an immense amount of information and I felt empowered to defend myself with a few simple moves, but in all honesty, I hope I never need to use these newly acquired skills. I do encourage everyone reading this to take a self defense class so that you will learn some basic moves that could save your life and those around you. It is a skill we all could use in this day and age!
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